August is when we begin to feel the seasonal pace of things pick up a notch, and everyone knows the deadline of fruit on the vine drives the calendar. There is wine to go into bottle, barrels to sort, new barrels to mildicide and number, and vineyard visits to schedule Read More…

Anthony and I have just returned from a chilly trip up the Rhine, beginning in Amsterdam on April 1st. Floating on a river of water running so rapidly it tilted the channel markers, we watched the world slowly change from a flat, green delta to the precariously steep hillsides we Read More…

This year, we’re hosting a Premiere preview event along with our new neighbors next door, Mira Winery (www.mirawine.com) and Hoopes Vineyard (www.hoopesvineyard.com). Just to make it interesting, we decided to collaborate on a joint lot of 20 cases – all three of us are contributing wine to the blend, which Read More…

As I watch faded leaves fall from the oak above the office window, and think about this year about to end, I have to conclude that it has been one of the most challenging we have faced in the 20 years here at BELL. The weather alone kept us continually Read More…

It has been two weeks since the fires began. November is a week away. Across northern California, recovery has begun, both harvest and wine-making continues, and we carry on. Unfortunately, the frightening images of raging fires roaring through neighborhoods remain on the minds of many would-be visitors. What is our Read More…

Harvest has begun in Napa, the culmination of a vintage year of unusual weather. Our drenching rains of winter refilled aquifers and then some. Flooding in Napa downtown has been a news staple for many generations. But the recently completed work on utilizing acres of lowlands at the south end Read More…

To review, in January, February, March we experienced biblical levels of wet – parts of Napa got almost as much rain as the last three years combined. This was followed by a mostly chilly, damp, foggy spring. No clear weather pattern developed; we swerved from nice and warm one week, Read More…

Napa has long used the wines of Bordeaux as a measure of quality, a goal, a definition of style. And why not? Bordeaux has two thousand years of wine production, reaching back to the days of the Roman empire and it’s thirsty citizens in the first century AD. The middle Read More…

Napa has been enjoying a couple of weeks of pretty days – so welcome after weeks of rain and chill. Our Chardonnay has mostly popped new green shoots, which is the official start of our next vintage year. Some of the Merlot has popped as well, a bit unusual. Perhaps Read More…

The water level has been THE story of the last several months, but with the end of February, Premiere Napa Valley takes center stage. This two part picture displays the difference an hour can make, taken just as the doors open and again, at mid-morning this last Saturday, in the Read More…